This document discusses different epistemological approaches and their influence on assessment methods. It presents an epistemological continuum ranging from objective to subjective and order to change. It then examines theories like critical theory, feminist theory, and postmodernism that take more subjective and change-oriented approaches. These alternative theories focus on issues like power, gender, and the social construction of knowledge. The document concludes that different epistemological stances can lead researchers to ask different questions and use varying methodologies like qualitative vs. quantitative approaches.

1. Epistemological
Influences on
Assessment Methods
Presented by:
Amber Garrison
March 2, 2012

2. Epistemology
 What is knowledge?
 How is knowledge acquired?
 What is the way of knowing?
 The underpinnings or assumptions about
what knowledge is or how it is acquired.
 There are multiple ways of knowing and
most research focuses on just one.

3. Epistemological
Continuum
 Objective vs Subjective
 Objective- Universal and tangible explanations, one
Truth that can be found and generalized to explain
 Subjective- socially constructed answers, truth is
relative
 Order vs Conflict
 Order- explain society as it is, create understanding,
maintain status quo
 Change- purpose is to create understanding to help
promote change in society

4. Influences on Theory
Radical Humanist Change Radical Structuralist
Postmod &
Poststructure
Critical Theory
Subjective Feminist
Objective
Theory Social System Theory
Rational Behavior
Theory
Interpretive Order Functionalist
Burrell & Morgan, 1979

5. Exploring Alternative
Approaches
 Policy is an enactment of values and is not value
neutral.
 Policy is a means of exerting social control and
alternative.
 Focus on bias and distribution of power between
policymakers and policy targets.
 Critical approaches push towards desired change
 Pose different research questions
 Often use different methodologies
 Different role of researcher

6. Alternative Approaches to
Positivism
 Critical theory
 Focuses attention on structural, ideological
and cultural features to understand power
 Feminist perspective
 Critical, but organized around women’s
experiences
 Postmodernist
 Constructs of reality as situated in specific
times and spaces

7. Critical Theory
Assumptions
 Educational policies can institutionalize
social inequities by reinforcing dominant
social values.
 Traditional policy analyses represent
incomplete realities and problems
 Actions/research should seek to change
existing inequalities

8. Feminist Theory
Assumptions
 Place the social construction of gender at
the center of inquiry because it is the
principle that shapes people’s lives
 Analysis of differences, local context, and
specificity
 Various ideological positions
 Liberal, cultural, power and politics,
postpositivist, critical feminist

9. Postmodern Assumptions
 Centers on reconceptualizing how we
perceive, experience and understand the
construction of knowledge
 Power influences discourse in
construction and dissemination of
knowledge
 Rejects generalizations
 Analysis focuses on multiple forms of
data and interpretations

10. Poststructuralist
Assumptions
 Attention to language within the research
process
 The role of the researcher is center to
how research conducted
 Research results are a construction of
the researcher

11. Assessment Methods
Q
Q Radical Humanist Change Radical Structuralist
u u
Postmod & a
a Poststructure
n
l
t
i Critical Theory
t Subjective Feminist
Objective i
Theory Social System Theory t
a
Rational Behavior a
t Theory
t
i
i
v Interpretive Order Functionalist
v
e
Burrell & Morgan, 1979 e

12. Assessment Methods
 Qualitative
 Participants describe in their own words, not
generalizable
 Open-ended questions, focus
groups, interviews, document analysis
 Quantitative
 Measurement of constructs, generalizable
 Survey, existing data set